Within the disciples and believers who had been forced to endure pressure from the government, doubt and agitation began to arise, with such thoughts such as “Why must Our teacher, who propagates the Lotus Sūtra, undergo such persecution and why don’t the heavenly gods lend him protection?” In February, Nichiren Shōnin addressed this doubt when he wrote his treatise Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Kaimoku-shō:

This person called Nichiren was beheaded on the twelfth day of the ninth month of last year, between the hours of the rat and ox (11 p.m. to 3 a.m.). It is his soul that has come to this country of Sado and, in this snowy second month of the following year, is writing this to send to his close disciples. It is horrible [here], but there is nothing to be frightened about. Others reading it will be terrified. This [Lotus Sūtra] is the bright mirror that Śākyamuni, Tahō and all the Buddhas of the Ten Directions left for the future of Japan, and in which the present state of the country is reflected. It may also be regarded as a keepsake from me.

This passage clearly demonstrates that the Lotus Sūtra is the correct Dharma for the Latter Age of Degeneration and that Nichiren Shōnin is the practitioner of the Lotus Sūtra, the guiding master of the Latter Age. It is here that he indicates that the Lotus Sūtra is a writing which opens and reveals buddhahood within all humanity. First, it clearly indicates the doctrine of 3,000 Existences in a Single Thought, ichinen sanzen, the heart of the Original Gate of the Lotus Sūtra into which all living beings of the Latter Age should place their faith. The Lotus Sūtra is the Dharma which is hard to believe and difficult to understand.

It also explains that the persecutions which befall the person who propagates the Lotus Sūtra become proof that the words of the Buddha are true and that he is a practitioner of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren Shōnin also declared he is the leader of the Dharma during the Latter Age when he stated, “I will become the pillar of Japan, I will become the eyes of Japan, and I will become the great vessel of Japan” and expressed his three great vows.